Virginia may need to enact more food safety requirements at the state level in response to cutbacks and deregulation efforts by the Trump administration, two legislators and several advocates said at a recent forum.
“We have historically, in my opinion, not done the kind of oversight we need to do. We’ve let the federal government do most of it,” Del. Mark Sickles (D-17) said during the press event on May 28.
Sickles, who chairs the Virginia General Assembly’s House Committee on Health and Human Services and represents the Franconia and Huntington areas in Fairfax County, was joined by state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi (D-15), chair of the Senate Committee on Education and Health.
Hashmi, who represents a district in the Richmond area, agreed that the state government needs to step in for federal agencies to ensure food safety. She called on state leaders to “examine our Code, our regulations, our guidelines and see where gaps exist.”
Hashmi, who is running for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor, said the Trump administration is making “draconian” cuts to food safety programs and personnel.
“They’re about letting bad actors get away with recklessly handling food and making us sick,” she said. “It is not just careless, it is in fact criminal.”
The Trump administration has implemented worker and program cuts at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) — moves that public health and food safety experts say will undermine the government’s ability to prevent, raise awareness of and address foodborne illnesses.
More reductions are proposed in the fiscal year 2026 federal budget currently moving through Congress. A draft of the budget proposed shifting the responsibility — and costs — for food safety inspections to states.
Sarah Sorscher of the Center for Science in the Public Interest decried the Trump administration’s efforts as “twisted and backward.”
“The good news? This damage is still reversible,” said Sorscher, calling on legislators at the state and federal levels to push back.
The General Assembly may not have the chance to tackle the issue until it reconvenes in January 2026, but a planned September 2025 session, focused mainly on budget issues, may give state lawmakers an opportunity to explore potential actions.
“This is a step that we have to take. Food safety is something we can’t allow to be neglected,” said Sickles, who noted that the need to consider possible state legislation adds “one more thing to our agenda we need to worry about.”
Fairfax resident Julie Shepard, who spoke at the forum, related an incident several years ago when she was stricken with a salmonella infection.
“It was just horrible. I was sick for two weeks,” she said.
In April, the U.S. Department of Agriculture withdrew plans for a regulatory framework intended to reduce the presence of salmonella in poultry, stating that the rules would’ve imposed an “overwhelming burden” on smaller processors and producers.
Shepard criticized President Donald Trump, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and tech billionaire Elon Musk — who has become the public face of the administration’s downsizing efforts — for “taking a sledgehammer” to regulatory agencies and “risking our health in the process.”
“It really makes my blood boil,” she said.
Photo via Mark Sickles campaign website
